Use of ARM processors set to reduce cost of data centre and cloud operations.

March 11, 2015--DataCentred (
www.datacentred.co.uk), the leading provider of open-source cloud computing and next-generation data centre solutions is delighted to announce that in a world first they have integrated servers running ARM AArch64 processors into their OpenStack public cloud platform.

This development will enable the innovative data centre service provider to give customers access to 64 bit ARM hardware via a virtualised architecture that can be spun up on demand. Customers will be able to develop applications on an opex model, thereby avoiding expensive and complex setup and entry costs.

The move is also expected to attract businesses and developers who want to take advantage of the cost savings the lower-power chips offer. The emergence of 64-bit ARM processors on servers has huge promise for massive reduction in overall power usage in the data centre.

The development has come as a result of DataCentred’s partnership with Codethink, the system level software infrastructure experts. The two companies have been working together since 2014 to deliver multi-architecture OpenStack cloud service infrastructure for customers requiring access to specific architectures to run targeted workloads. Codethink are working with customers needing the advantages of specific chipsets for their chosen applications such as centralized virtualization of ARM devices. Running OpenStack on HP Moonshot servers running ARM AArch64 processors, is the first example of this exciting collaboration.

The innovation will eventually drive down the cost of data centre operation and, ultimately, of the cost of virtualised instances within a customer’s service framework. DataCentred’s use of open source technologies already enables it to offer the cheapest UK-owned and operated cloud services. This new development will make the service even more attractive to price-sensitive and environmentally-aware consumers.

About the solution

Virtualised little endian ARM AArch64 instances using the KVM hypervisor running on top of HP Moonshot M400 ARM hardware, and fully integrated into DataCentred’s OpenStack public cloud platform. Customers will be able to spin up both AArch64 instances and x86 instances within the same OpenStack project. Bare metal instances within OpenStack for customers who require big endian support are under development.

Dr Mike Kelly, CEO and founder of DataCentred, said:

“We are thrilled to be the first OpenStack public cloud operator to feature 64-bit ARM instances. This breakthrough is testament to the considerable skill and expertise of our OpenStack cloud development team. This is probably the first example of Moonshot AArch64 running in Europe outside of HP’s development labs, and certainly the first example of generally available Moonshot backed AArch64 instances in an OpenStack public cloud anywhere in the world.

We know that ARM themselves are pleased to hear of this development, as a real world deployment. OpenStack is one of the big success stories for Open Source software, and is likely to be the environment through which enterprise migrates, in a vendor neutral way, to take advantage of elastic cloud compute.”

Paul Sherwood, CEO of Codethink, said:

“ARM has always been a key target for our embedded systems development chain and the ability to provide a cloud based, ARM native developer environment for our projects is a critical part of achieving Codethink’s goals.

Since 2014 we have been working with DataCentred to provide an environment for distributing Baserock, our embedded systems and dedicated enterprise appliance Linux tool set; and to provide an execution environment for developers using Baserock to build, run and test on novel architectures, notably ARM.”

Matt Jarvis, Head of Cloud Computing at DataCentred, said:

“There is currently a scarcity in the market for accessible, scalable 64-bit ARM and by adding this service to our cloud platform DataCentred can provide customers with access to this hardware at low risk. We are already seeing significant interest in our key vertical markets and expect this to grow over the next year.

Thanks to Codethink, we’ve had one of the first ARM AArch64 Moonshot servers in the UK and our engineering team has integrated this with our Open Source OpenStack cloud platform. We will move this into production over the next few months.”

DataCentred is a leading provider of next-generation data centre and cloud computing services offering dedicated, UK-based data centre capacity and excellent network connectivity combined with powerful open-source computer processing and storage solutions. The cloud computing solution is based on OpenStack and the storage platform is built using Ceph. This provides customers with maximum flexibility and cost savings whilst ensuring the highest levels of data security hosted entirely within the UK.
www.datacentred.co.uk

About Codethink

Codethink specialises in developing system-level software to enable advanced technical applications, working across a range of industries including finance, automotive, telecoms and medical. As experts in Free and Open Source Software, they help customers take maximum advantage of the knowledge and technologies developed by the Open Source community. Their customers are international-scale organisations who seek competitive edge through design of systems which are faster, smaller, more secure, more up-to-date, or more advanced than their competitors.